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I’m writing my second video game (old school arcade style side-shooter) and hope I can use this to generate background chip tune music!

snowram 4y ago
May I recommend to learn how to use a tracker software? It is very fun to play with!
- highhedgehog 4y ago
  what's a tracker software?
  - Sardtok 4y ago
    It's software used to create music. Typically you build sections that you loop and intermingle. It's kind of like writing small sections of sheet music for multiple instruments at a time, but unlike many Midi composers, the notes aren't shown as notes. It's basically what came after manually programming all the chiptunes as part of the game's code. Instead using general parsing of a format that described the audio in terms of pitch, volume, dropoff, echo, etc. of samples (at least samples were usually used with later trackers anyway).
  - danwills 4y ago
    A 'tracker' is a usually-sample-based music making software. AFAIK they were originally developed by demoscene groups (concurrently to game studios that used the code privately whereas the demogroups would release binaries for others to use for music-making with few limitations) These 'sample mixing engines' were developed in order to be able to add music to their productions (demos and games), and it became it's own whole-world. Fully agree with sibling comments, module trackers can be huge fun! Near zero barriers-to-entry.. and there's still some great stuff being made in this format too!
  - b0afc375b5 4y ago
    https://youtu.be/roBkg-iPrbw https://youtu.be/roBkg-iPrbw I think this showed up on my recommendation. I didn't know anything about tracker music, but this video explains it chronologically and very well.
- skor 4y ago
  yes, fits perfect for those kind of games
- TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
  Can you recommend a tracker software package to use?
  - snowram 4y ago
    Sorry for the late reply, I would recommand Famitracker for begginers as it is the most user friendly out there. For a modern tracker try Renoise, it is basically your every day DAW in tracker form.
throwaway290 4y ago
I hope you also consider getting some music from an actual producer!
- echelon 4y ago
  Why is there this need for humans to be involved at all stages of production? Do we still need humans to knit and handwash our clothes? To live in a caboose or lighthouse? To operate our elevators? To deliver the milk? Why should anyone have to learn to draw in the future when machines promise to do a better job? There are so many better uses for our time, and too many things to do for our short lives to handle. I want to compose music, despite no practice or formal training. I want to make an entire movie by myself with no other humans involved. Tech that enables these things will be empowering.
  - throw_pm23 4y ago
    It may be empowering, but it is not yet clear that the result will be appealing. Not trying to be an AI-skeptic, but I find art to still be mostly about communication; when I listen to some music I enjoy I feel like I have some shared experience with the author which they are able to communicate via music. I have yet to see this effect in AI-produced stuff, but even if the effect would be fully imitated, it is still not clear that it would have the same appeal. An analogy: chess AI's are clearly superior to human chess by any reasonable measure. I still enjoy playing with other people (even online, even anonymously) infinitely more than playing with an AI, no matter how well calibrated/tuned to my level.
    - williamcotton 4y ago
      Yes, nothing communicates the lived human experience like chip tune music playing in the background of a video game. I hear a lot of romantic notions yet I don't see a lot of people flocking to solo acoustic singer-songwriters!
  - jtode 4y ago
    These AIs will only ever be as good as what gets fed into them. It follows that without something going in, they will output nothing. That source material will always be human in nature, at least until these neural networks get large enough for emergent consciousness to exist, at which point we might see actual creativity from a machine. An AI without new inputs to consume will not evolve creatively, and you will get bored of its output quite quickly, I think.
frinnylee 4y ago
We have a AI platform finding music from video/images/game screen recording. And support musicians at the same time. Check it outhttps://avmapping.co/ https://avmapping.co/

snowram 4y ago

May I recommend to learn how to use a tracker software? It is very fun to play with!

highhedgehog 4y ago
what's a tracker software?
- Sardtok 4y ago
  It's software used to create music. Typically you build sections that you loop and intermingle. It's kind of like writing small sections of sheet music for multiple instruments at a time, but unlike many Midi composers, the notes aren't shown as notes. It's basically what came after manually programming all the chiptunes as part of the game's code. Instead using general parsing of a format that described the audio in terms of pitch, volume, dropoff, echo, etc. of samples (at least samples were usually used with later trackers anyway).
- danwills 4y ago
  A 'tracker' is a usually-sample-based music making software. AFAIK they were originally developed by demoscene groups (concurrently to game studios that used the code privately whereas the demogroups would release binaries for others to use for music-making with few limitations) These 'sample mixing engines' were developed in order to be able to add music to their productions (demos and games), and it became it's own whole-world. Fully agree with sibling comments, module trackers can be huge fun! Near zero barriers-to-entry.. and there's still some great stuff being made in this format too!
- b0afc375b5 4y ago
  https://youtu.be/roBkg-iPrbw https://youtu.be/roBkg-iPrbw I think this showed up on my recommendation. I didn't know anything about tracker music, but this video explains it chronologically and very well.
skor 4y ago
yes, fits perfect for those kind of games
TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
Can you recommend a tracker software package to use?
- snowram 4y ago
  Sorry for the late reply, I would recommand Famitracker for begginers as it is the most user friendly out there. For a modern tracker try Renoise, it is basically your every day DAW in tracker form.

throwaway290 4y ago

I hope you also consider getting some music from an actual producer!

echelon 4y ago
Why is there this need for humans to be involved at all stages of production? Do we still need humans to knit and handwash our clothes? To live in a caboose or lighthouse? To operate our elevators? To deliver the milk? Why should anyone have to learn to draw in the future when machines promise to do a better job? There are so many better uses for our time, and too many things to do for our short lives to handle. I want to compose music, despite no practice or formal training. I want to make an entire movie by myself with no other humans involved. Tech that enables these things will be empowering.
- throw_pm23 4y ago
  It may be empowering, but it is not yet clear that the result will be appealing. Not trying to be an AI-skeptic, but I find art to still be mostly about communication; when I listen to some music I enjoy I feel like I have some shared experience with the author which they are able to communicate via music. I have yet to see this effect in AI-produced stuff, but even if the effect would be fully imitated, it is still not clear that it would have the same appeal. An analogy: chess AI's are clearly superior to human chess by any reasonable measure. I still enjoy playing with other people (even online, even anonymously) infinitely more than playing with an AI, no matter how well calibrated/tuned to my level.
  - williamcotton 4y ago
    Yes, nothing communicates the lived human experience like chip tune music playing in the background of a video game. I hear a lot of romantic notions yet I don't see a lot of people flocking to solo acoustic singer-songwriters!
- jtode 4y ago
  These AIs will only ever be as good as what gets fed into them. It follows that without something going in, they will output nothing. That source material will always be human in nature, at least until these neural networks get large enough for emergent consciousness to exist, at which point we might see actual creativity from a machine. An AI without new inputs to consume will not evolve creatively, and you will get bored of its output quite quickly, I think.

frinnylee 4y ago

We have a AI platform finding music from video/images/game screen recording. And support musicians at the same time. Check it outhttps://avmapping.co/ https://avmapping.co/